Generally, a divine mandate that church members were expected to obey; more specifically, a text dictated by JS in the first-person voice of Deity that served to communicate knowledge and instruction to JS and his followers. Occasionally, other inspired texts...

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

A binding agreement between two parties, particularly between God and man. The term covenant was often associated with “commandments,” referring to revelation texts. The gospel as preached by JS—including the need for faith, repentance, baptism, and reception...

Generally referred to the “fulness of the gospel”—the sum total of the church’s message, geared toward establishing God’s covenant people on the earth; also used to describe individual elements of the gospel, including marriage. According to JS, the everlasting...

The text
in Revelation Book
1 includes here the phrase “even the same which was from the begining.”
Other early versions of the revelation match Revelation Book 1. (Revelation Book 1,
p.
32;
McLellin, Copies of Revelations,
7; Gilbert, Notebook,
[12] [D&C 22:1].)

An ordinance in which an individual is immersed in water for the remission of sins. The Book of Mormon explained that those with necessary authority were to baptize individuals who had repented of their sins. Baptized individuals also received the gift of...

a hundred
times it availeth him nothing, for ye cannot enter in at the straight gait
by the law of Moses, neither by your dead works, for it is because of your
dead works that I have caused this last covenant and this church to be built
up unto me;4

Revelation Book 1
includes here the phrase “even as in days of old,” as does Sidney
Gilbert’s early copy of the revelation. (Revelation Book 1, p.
32;
Gilbert, Notebook, [12]
[D&C 22:3].)

Generally, a divine mandate that church members were expected to obey; more specifically, a text dictated by JS in the first-person voice of Deity that served to communicate knowledge and instruction to JS and his followers. Occasionally, other inspired texts...

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

A binding agreement between two parties, particularly between God and man. The term covenant was often associated with “commandments,” referring to revelation texts. The gospel as preached by JS—including the need for faith, repentance, baptism, and reception...

Generally referred to the “fulness of the gospel”—the sum total of the church’s message, geared toward establishing God’s covenant people on the earth; also used to describe individual elements of the gospel, including marriage. According to JS, the everlasting...

The text
in Revelation Book
1 includes here the phrase “even the same which was from the begining.”
Other early versions of the revelation match Revelation Book 1. (Revelation Book 1,
p.
32;
McLellin, Copies of Revelations,
7; Gilbert, Notebook,
[12] [D&C 22:1].)

An ordinance in which an individual is immersed in water for the remission of sins. The Book of Mormon explained that those with necessary authority were to baptize individuals who had repented of their sins. Baptized individuals also received the gift of...

a hundred
times it availeth him nothing, for ye cannot enter in at the straight gait
by the law of Moses, neither by your dead works, for it is because of your
dead works that I have caused this last covenant and this church to be built
up unto me;4

Revelation Book 1
includes here the phrase “even as in days of old,” as does Sidney
Gilbert’s early copy of the revelation. (Revelation Book 1, p.
32;
Gilbert, Notebook, [12]
[D&C 22:3].)

JS dictated this
revelation shortly after the formal organization of the
church on 6 April 1830. While the version
featured here does not include a specific date, a manuscript copy in the
handwriting of
William E. McLellin

27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...

copied the revelation into Revelation Book 1, he likely wrote the
heading found there: “A Revelation given to Joseph the Seer Some were anxious
to Join the Church without Rebaptism & Joseph enquired of the Lord & he
received as follows.”2

Revelation Book 1,
p. 32.
Many years later
Orson
Pratt explained the context for this
revelation. Although Pratt did not become a member of the
church until September 1830, he may have gained
his information from those familiar with the circumstances. According to Pratt,
“This is the reason why the Lord commanded this people—the Latter-day Saints—to
re-baptize all persons who come to them professing to have been
baptized
before. In the early days of this Church there were certain persons, belonging
to the Baptist denomination, very moral and no doubt as good people as you
could find anywhere, who came, saying they believed in the
Book of
Mormon, and that they had been baptized into the Baptist Church, and they
wished to come into our Church. The Prophet
Joseph had not, at that time, particularly
inquired in relation to this matter, but he did inquire, and received a
revelation from the Lord.” (Orson Pratt, in Journal of
Discourses, 2 Nov. 1873, 16:293.)

An ordinance in which an individual is immersed in water for the remission of sins. The Book of Mormon explained that those with necessary authority were to baptize individuals who had repented of their sins. Baptized individuals also received the gift of...

no revelation
prior to 16 April 1830 explicitly addressed the
question of rebaptism for those who had been baptized in other faiths. Oliver
Cowdery

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

’s June 1829 “Articles of the Church of
Christ” prescribed the method of baptism and the wording of the baptismal
prayer, declaring that “whosoever repenteth & humbleth himself before me &
desireth to be baptized in my name shall ye baptize them,” but it did not address
the question of rebaptism.4

The revelatory document
on church government known as “Articles and Covenants,” which superseded Cowdery’s earlier
document, clarified that baptism was necessary for entry into the church but did not
explicitly address rebaptism either.5

The version of the 16 April revelation featured here was published in
the Painesville Telegraph and reportedly obtained from Martin
Harris

18 May 1783–10 July 1875. Farmer. Born at Easton, Albany Co., New York. Son of Nathan Harris and Rhoda Lapham. Moved with parents to area of Swift’s landing (later in Palmyra), Ontario Co., New York, 1793. Married first his first cousin Lucy Harris, 27 Mar...

28 Dec. 1789–29 June 1834. Merchant. Born at New Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Eli Gilbert and Lydia Hemingway. Moved to Huntington, Fairfield Co., Connecticut; to Monroe, Monroe Co., Michigan Territory, by Sept. 1818; to Painesville, Geauga Co...

’s early revelation notebook also appended the 16 April revelation to the end of Articles and
Covenants, again without a separate heading or title. The first version of Articles
and Covenants published in a church newspaper, in June
1832, likewise combined the two documents.7

The combining of
these two texts in so many early versions suggests that the 16 April revelation was seen as an extension of the
instructions on baptism contained in Articles and Covenants. The 16 April revelation is presented separately herein
because the official version, found in Revelation Book 1, records it as a discrete text.

Despite the
clarity this revelation may have provided church members, the requirement of
rebaptism became a point of contention for many outside the church. Opponents
criticized followers of
JS for teaching “that their book contained a new
covenant

A binding agreement between two parties, particularly between God and man. The term covenant was often associated with “commandments,” referring to revelation texts. The gospel as preached by JS—including the need for faith, repentance, baptism, and reception...

Located in northern part of county between Seneca and Cayuga lakes. Area settled, by 1790. Officially organized as Washington Township, 14 Mar. 1800. Name changed to Fayette, 6 Apr. 1808. Population in 1830 about 3,200. Population in 1840 about 3,700. Significant...

Both the Painesville
Telegraph version and the one found in
Revelation Book
1 appear to have been created about the same time, but differences
between the two versions indicate that the former was based on an earlier copy;
therefore, the Telegraph version is featured here.